


This War we Endure

by Headcrab_Stan_22 (Vastriva)



Series: This War we Endure [1]
Category: Half-Life
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-26
Updated: 2020-04-26
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:53:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23852623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vastriva/pseuds/Headcrab_Stan_22
Summary: The Combine are essentially on the run...now, Alyx Vance and Gordon Freeman must venture to the arctic to find The Borealis and rescue Judith Mossman, but things dont go to plan as the two of them are separated in an ambush...now, Alyx must scour the arctic landscape to find Freeman and stop The Combine from gaining another foothold.
Series: This War we Endure [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1718836
Kudos: 3





	This War we Endure

**Author's Note:**

> Fan Created idea of what the story may go to after the events of Episode 2, however, this does NOT follow Epistle 3.

The freezing cold of the Arctic landscape...it’s a normal sensation nowadays...the stinging frostbite...the whistling of the wind...and the howling blades of a Combine Helicopter...Alyx Vance gasps awake, having just survived an ambush the other day...she sits up, brushing loose snow off her parka, preparing to stand, but a loud howl halts her stance…”Shit…” she mutters, rushing to the side as a wild antlion crawls up to her den. It peeks in, observing all the gear and supplies...then leaves...Alyx lets out a sigh of relief...with a jump, she feels something vibrate on her upper arm, it was her radio...she lets out a chuckle of relief, answering the call…

”Alyx!? Alyx are you alright!?”  
She lets out a slight chuckle…  
”I’m fine Dr. Kleiner...good to hear from you!”  
She ducks down, observing a few combine pass the holes overhead…  
"Good...god! thank goodness you're alright! I have been trying to contact you for days! Plus...it seems as if Gordon isn’t answering either…”  
She stands, noticing their departure and proceeding to equip her gear, she sets the device aside “Gordon...he was captured the other day…”  
Kleiner gasps slightly  
“Impossible! he would have broken out by now if that was the case!”  
Alyx checks her ammunition...just a few cartridges left...fighting won’t be an option for a while  
“I know...but...something was different when they ambushed us...”  
Kleiner fixes his glasses in confusion…  
”How different…?”  
Alyx sets her weapon aside, looking Kleiner dead in the eyes…  
“They’re more aggressive...plus...they seemed to have something...helping them, something beyond what we could fight, let alone even see…”  
Kleiner goes off screen…  
”A...alright...listen...whatever it is...I’m sure you can figure out how to beat it...besides, it’s not like we have a choice…you must find the Borealis...it is key we find Dr. Mossman, with haste! But...no pressure of course...stay safe Alyx...”  
She nods, turning off the device...gear wrapped around her back and waist, she walks out of the den…Snow crunching underneath her feet, she makes her way out of the caves, pondering on the mission...their main objective was to find The Borealis, a myth of a ship owned by Aperture Science...a rival to her father’s company, Black Mesa. Her father...she winces at the thought of him, although he was killed months ago, it was so sudden......she shakes her head, ignoring the thoughts, pushing forward...radio chatter is heard up ahead, she ducks down...wanting a fight to shake off the anger built up...she looks down at her pistol ...then remembers...not much ammo...She sighs, holstering it, then decides to sneak alongside the pillars of ice...noticing an exit above, she pulls out her ice axe, meanwhile observing the Combine soldiers...they don’t know she’s here...as they’re busy chatting, she takes off her bag and waist belt, tossing it up the hole and out then slicing into the ice, climbing...she gets a feeling, leaping into a small opening,  
at the perfect moment too as one of the soldiers walks past her, looking over in her direction...she hugs the wall...waiting…then, the soldiers radio goes off...  
*Bera squad, regroup on the surface, rebel squad located.*  
The soldier walks off, Alyx lets out a sigh of relief, continuing her climb...as she reaches the surface, she immediately drops to the ground, hearing several gunshots nearby, it stops...she enters a crouch stance, grabbing her snow covered gear. With it back on her, she goes behind a tall pile of snow, pulling out her binoculars...looking in the direction of the gunfire, she spots a patrol down in the nearby abandoned town, nearly jumping as she thought one of the hunters spotted her...thankfully not...but much to her misfortune, a squad of rebels were executed by a firing squad, their still fresh corpses line up on the side of a building...  
“Shit...”  
She quickly puts her binoculars aside, dashing up and down the hill of snow...she observes a wall of snow nearby...a blizzard is approaching...no wonder the combine are vacating the area…she ducks behind one of the unmanned APC’s, observing the Combine as they depart, then, there’s an opening...children are being loaded onto transports…and only children...  
“The fuck…!?”  
This is unusual...children were usually shot on sight by the combine...she looks to the corpses, only adults and soldiers...then...as luck would have it, a Hunter enters view...she hastily drops behind the APC, then looks around the corner...it looks into the pile...ignoring them, thinking them as mere corpses ...then one of the bodies start moving...it howls, lights turning red as it starts unloading a few rounds into them...they spring and power up...Alyx doesn’t look as she grimaces at the man’s pained howls..then...the bolts explode...silence, the hunter growls and slams the ground, walking to the soldiers...  
“Dammit…”  
She observes the soldiers...they seem distracted...she leaps up, going around the side of the building...she then looks back around the corner...the children….  
“...I can’t fight them all…but…”  
She pulls a small device out from her satchel, then a small crossbow...loading it, she fires it off to the transport...it sticks to the bumper...  
“Alright...now to get outta here…”  
Gear shaking...snow crunching, she runs alongside the town...she turns to her wrist pad, contacting Kleiner…  
“cmon doc…”  
He picks up…  
“Aly-“  
Suddenly, she trips on a wire leading into one of the buildings, landing onto a metal crate, shattering her wrist pad…  
“Son of a bitch!”  
...too loud...she covers her mouth as a soldier rounds the corner, aiming his weapon...  
“Christ will you assholes fuck off already?!”  
*hmph! Dont you move!*  
Alyx raises her hands...  
*HQ, I have found a civilian ins-*  
Alyx thinks quickly, flipping the table to her side up at the soldier, rushing him and putting him in a choke hold, dropping down to the ground, she snaps his neck violently, shoving him off...Alyx stands up...  
“Okay...fine...be like that…”  
She grabs the soldier’s smg...still a few mags…  
“Perfect…”  
Yet still not enough to attack...but it’s already to late as she hears the transports drive off...  
“guess they didn’t hear him…or...they don’t care...tss…”  
She leaves the small building...inside the town...it’s barren, scorch marks and bullet casings are littered about...alongside resistance corpses...a blue lambda symbol on their shoulder patches...she does what she can for them, burying those who weren’t resorted to limbs and bones...after she enters one of the houses...the cold begins to get to her a bit...she closes all the doors and windows, going to the fireplace in the living room. It’s quiet...but it won’t be like that forever...she lights a fire quickly, gathering wood from nearby buildings...her temporary safehouse is complete...all it needs is...food...she pulls out a small ration from her satchel, then sits in front of the fire...it’s warmth quickly taking effect…when comfortable, Alyx pulls a small recorder out of her satchel…  
“Alyx Vance, reporting in...for whatever reason, the combine have been increasingly aggressive, as if they think they can actually still win this...today I came across a small little outpost, raided by them...but it wasn’t normal...usually they’d try and take a few alive, but no...every able bodied person was either shot dead, or eviscerated by hunters...while the children...they were...”  
She stops...sighs, then shakes her head…  
“The children were taken, but I tagged the convoy before they left...shattered my damn wrist pad and it’s not working...guess I’m gonna be busy tonight...blizzard on the way so it’s not like I’m going anywhere...”  
She takes a bite out of the ration, now noticing the howling wind...she goes over to one of the windows, noticing it’s not fully closed, she shuts it, turning around...only for a headcrab to leap at her, she yells, dodging as it smacks the wall,she regains herself, only for the crab to leap again, she grabs it, the teeth inside it’s “mouth” gnawing and shifting...  
“Get the hell off me you bug!”  
She throws it down on the floor, proceeding to slam her foot down on it a few times...it squeals and dies...she takes a breath.  
“Okay...was just attacked by a crab...fucking hell! Damn thing nearly got me...I gotta secure this house…Alyx out…”  
She turns off the recorder, holstering it, then pulling her ice axe and pistol out of her bag.

The stairs creak and bend as she walks up..the smell of blood fills her nose...she raises her pistol, turning on the flashlight...the attic is seemingly empty...except for a pair of legs...she walks up, going over to it...it’s a dead combine soldier, a fire axe splitting his skull......“huh...who did this…?”  
She inspects the body...shuffling is heard next to her, she aims, the flashlight shines on the blonde hair of a young girl...she ducks behind a box...gasping…  
“ holy...um...it...it’s okay! Come out, I won’t hurt you...I promise…”  
The girl peeks out a bit, hearing her calming voice...she seems cold, despite the purple sweater and scarf...  
“Who...who are you?  
Alyx points to her shoulder patch…  
“I’m with the resistance...you can trust me okay?”  
The child slowly crawls out, staring at the corpse…  
“Do you know who did this…?”  
The girl nods...thankfully she seems to believe Alyx somewhat...she holsters her pistol  
“…m...my brother...”  
Alyx looks off...hearing shuffling in another room…she then spots a dead headcrab...  
“Of course...stay here...don’t move…”  
She walks over to the door, cocking the slide on her pistol...then breaching...it’s an empty room…  
“Must have been nothing...”  
Alyx leaves that room...the child is still there thankfully, but seemingly startled…  
“It’s fine kid...nothing to worry about...must have been something else...”  
She holsters...but the child starts pointing behind her...Alyx turns to the door to the other room...it’s cracked open…  
“My brother...is in there...but… he's not well…”  
She motions her hand on her head ...  
“A Headcrab got him…? It’s fine...I’ll see what I can do…”  
Alyx walks over to the door...creaking it open...inside is a body...she investigates the scene...a rifle perched near the window, ammunition, another ration...the body, Headcrab...check...male...check...but...he’s not dead, not yet...she rushes to him, prying the crab off with her axe, the man gasps for air, but is cut off by a rush of blood spilling into his throat...the Headcrab had sunk its teeth deep…blood gushing out of his mouth, Alyx quickly applies a rag...it turns completely red within seconds...he grabs her shoulder, she ignores his somewhat mangled face but...what’s left of his eyes...they’re looking at her, bloodied and red…  
“...T...take care of her...p...please…”  
Alyx manages to miraculously stop the bleeding...but it’s not enough, the man is choking on his own blood...not to mention the toxin from the crab itself...having melted off most of his skin…he can barely move and Alyx can barely understand through his gurgled speech...  
“It is...too late for me…she...she is too young...please...get her away from here…”  
His labored breathing intensifies...Alyx turns, the girl standing at the door…  
“Letznitzky?”  
He manages to raise his arm...Alyx backs away…  
“Sis...come here…”  
The girl walks over to him, Alyx grabs the rifle alongside the box of ammo, walking out...leaving them be...before heading down,she secures the top floor, then goes back downstairs.

Alyx props the rifle next to the old couch, stoking the fire, then sitting back down...she pulls out her recorder, turning it on…  
“I’m back...secured the house but...I found a kid...looks like the combine thankfully missed one...she wasn’t hurt but her brother on the other hand...he...well...he’s not gonna make it...had a poison crab on him...told me to take care of the kid...tss...just when I thought things couldn’t get any harder...”  
She turns off her recorder...hearing footsteps...she turns, the child ducks behind the couch...alyx chuckles a bit...walking around the couch...kneeling in front of the girl…  
“You can trust me kiddo...what’s your name?”  
The girl looks at her…  
“A...Agata…”  
Alyx pulls out her ration, breaking off a piece...stretching out her hand…  
“I’m Alyx…”  
Agata grabs the piece, biting into it…  
“Thank you...”  
“Your welcome...listen…i...im sorry about your brother…”  
“It...its okay...i…”  
Tears were already streaming down her face...Alyx prepares to say something….only for Agata to turn away...alyx halts, sighing......she decides it best to wait it out, going back in front of the fireplace...the howling wind is upon them...the blizzard has arrived...to think, it was bright outside...now it’s just darkness...Alyx is busy trying to fix her datapad, fatigue catching up...Agata however, is still wide awake...twiddling her thumbs...which are freezing ...her teeth chattering...even with the sweater and scarf...she’s freezing...she’s had enough, standing up and walking around the couch, stopping when she spots Alyx next to a warm fire...she doesn’t exactly trust her...but Agata doesn’t have a choice...she walks slowly over to alyx...who doesn’t notice her at first...Agata hesitates…

Alyx angles the screwdriver at a specific angle…holding it in place...  
“Okay...now to solder that…”  
She reaches to her right, moving her hand around...then the soldering iron is put in her hand, she turns to Agata standing in front of her, Alyx places the iron in her lap, still looking at Agata…  
“Are you okay…?”  
“Its cold...way to cold…”  
Alyx motions for Agata to come sit by her...she sits down in front of the fire, warming up, the frostbite slowly fading…  
“Thank you…”  
“ hey it’s no biggie…’sides...your kinda stuck with me till I can get you somewhere safe…”  
Alyx yawns, going back to work...after a bit, the blizzard hasn’t let up...Alyx has begun dozing off...barely able to open her eyes...Agata sits up, having finished a ration Alyx shared...she closes her eyes, ready for sleep...but...smells something...smoke...not the smoke from the fire...but from metal...she sits up, Alyx has fallen asleep...the soldering iron melting the side of her wrist pad…  
“Alyx!”  
She wakes up…  
“Huh what!? Oh crap!”  
Alyx quickly turns off the iron, examining the damage...luckily nothing bad…  
“yeesh...thanks kiddo…”  
Agata nods…  
“So...if you don’t mind…”  
Alyx puts the wrist pad to the side…  
“Tell me...what happened here?”  
Agata grimaces...but sits next to her…  
“They attacked...yesterday…”


End file.
